Ladycraft, this was a crazy year for annuals. Most of my petunias were in containers and weren't all that great either, and I watered very often. I cut back all of them except the Waves about mid-July. I should have fertilized more but didn't. I'm sure they would have done better had I done that. I didn't fertilize much, really, come to think of it. Where did the summer go??
Sunny

I am amazed at the beautiful hanging baskets of petunias on Main Street in Joplin. I think they must have contracted a deal with a professional. The only hybrid petunia I can grow is supertunia bubblegum pink. I can keep it most of the summer if I water it. I think watering every day is too much unless you have them in a small pot. If you water that much you would need to use miracle grow pretty often. Glenda gave me some seed for cottage style vine petunias and I still have those. I haven't cut them back much and they are kind of leggy but I think that is their look. I have never been able to achieve the look that I think you are wanting except for a short time and then they sprawl. I think it takes cutting back and lots of fertilizer. I am happy with the ones I have and thankful they made it though this summer.

Once I discovered the heirloom, self-seeding petunias, I gave up the fancier hybrids forever!

I have had these old timers going now for about 4 or 5 years. They suit me just fine and come up in the most interesting places. I let them grow where they are.
They come in dark violet, lavender, white and various shades of these colors. I have one that self-seeded just a month or so ago and it now in full bloom right at the back door step. You have to love them. If they are in a pot, I do water, but in the ground, no.

I will try to get some pictures this morning.

Of course, they are not those globes of huge blooms that cover the plant, but they are completely carefree.

Got a petunia surprise this year, we pulled up a big patch of euonymous that had been there for at least 20 yrs, dug up the soil and replanted with some perennials and a Foster holly. Lo and behold, not only did holly hocks that hadn't been grown there for at least 30 yrs spring up, but so did a big patch of petunias, pink and white and purple! The seeds of both must had lain fallow for all that time and sprouted when the soil was turned over and seeds exposed to light. I know hollyhocks were grown in that spot in the l960's as my neighbor remembers them there.

Thanks for the info. I don't know what kind I have as I pick them up when I see some I like. But if they bloom I don't really care! I try to fertilize but somehow it doesn't get done as often as it should. I am confused about that too. How much/long should I spray them? Then I read that they take in through their leaves so maybe they just need to bet wet down good.

The ones I tried to start from seeds the slugs got before I got wise.

Mosswitch, it is really exciting when you get a surprise like that. Wow that is a long time for them to be fallow.

Petunias were a flower that I was interested in this last summer. They are big feeders so I put time release fertilizer in the pot mixed down through the soil. I use one for flowers. They are nitrogen sensitive and will build lots of foliage if they get too much. Mine slowed blooming in the heat of summer and the caterpillars ate them faster then they could grow. Over head water ruins the large flowered ones, rain, what is that? They need lots of sun. Some of mine have started blooming nicely again since it has cooled down. My one big success was a mini petunia from Proven Winners, Raspberry Blast. It is a mound of pink that covers all the foliage from the center of the pot and then flows over to cover everything in the bed. It never quit all year. Enough 4" pots at $4 a piece would have been expensive to fill the 20" pot it's in. I found a hanging basket of them at Wal Marts after Mothers Day and put it in this larger pot. I find petunias and calibrachoa vary widely even from the same grower. Proven Winners has a whole line of them and it seems to me that they all grow differently. So next summer I will be down at Wal Marts around Mothers Day to see what I can score. I have read about the old fashioned reseeding petunia. I like volunteers that show up here and there too. The huge mound of Raspberry Blast mini petunia is what visitors comment on. Oh my gosh, I need both. Keep trying, it ain't easy it just looks that way. Out of Town Sister

Welcome CA gardener. I will look for that one next year. Yesterday I was in Seneca and I saw a flower box of the vining petunias in front of a store. Up close they were not as pretty; I think they have been caring for themselves. They were pretty enough from a little distance. I walked to another store and a beautiful healthy old fashioned petunia was growing out of a crack in the sidewalk. It was perfect and covered with flowers.

I had several pots of petunia this year. A mix of no named and a few named. I use 14-14-14 time release fertilizer that I mix through out the potting soil. Petunias are heavy feeders. Tomato fertilizer is suppose to work well. Too much nitrogen and you get too much foliage. When the two big pots out front really got going I would go out every Sunday and pour 2 gallons of Bloom Booster on them and fill up the bucket by trimming off the longest runners. They are also on a drip system. I stayed just in front of the bug eating them, they looked great. July came and we started getting 100+ days and they stopped blooming as usual. I gave up and changed out the pots. When the weather cooled in September they started blooming again. I had one pot of Raspberry Blast mini petunias from Proven Winners that I bought at Wal Marts and they have never stopped or slowed down. A crape myrtle drips aphid honey on them but they don't care. I don't use poison because I have too many hummingbirds. The pink heads try to eat everything including the metal flowers and the bunny tail ornamental grass. The RB petunias got an occasional drink of Bloom Booster and I did hack them back when they started blanketing their neighbors.
Petunias are highly hybridized. I think the durability of the old reseeding petunia was lost when they breed them for the big showy flowers. Breeders have been trying to fix them by developing heat resistance, humidity resistance, more and better colors, day neutral or small flowers to hold up in rain. Then they ship the plant or seeds around the states and we buy them with no information for the pretty flower. The gal in Alaska is planting the same petunia as I am in zone 9. I think I got lucky and the RB petunia was breed to take the heat that I get. The big growers have a big family of petunias in all colors that they implied they grow the same. I find that they are all unique and Supperdupper petunia pink grows differently then Supperdupper red.
I think petunias like a lot of fertilizer and not too much water like verbena. I have to start early to have big roots before the heat comes. I think the smaller blooms hold up better but the plant has to produce more flowers to put on the show. Next year I will try a mix of named varieties, put them in a 20" pot and may the best petunia take over. I will then take cuttings and make more pots. I hope I can pull RB petunias through the winter with the coleus but one way or another I will have lots of them next year. I will be looking for named varieties that I can find each year. My climate is not well suited to petunia and I need the help of the big plant breeders to find ones that work. I prefer success by way of dumb luck but it hasn't work for me with petunias. The Long Winded Sister

Does anything say "July" better than the scent of hot, hot petunias? I just love to drink that in. Next year I'm going to take care of everything better.

Interesting posts and thread about petunias.
Sunny

Yes sunny I love the smell of some of them. I had one a long time ago an azure blue that smelled really good in the evening. I always smell them when I am buying. The bubblegum pink that I have success with is not noticeably fragrant. Peggy that idea of trimming the longest stem every week is a good idea especially for a pot near your front door. I usually hate to cut them back because I wait until they are ratty looking to do it and then they are really ratty looking. Constant pruning would maybe avoid that problem. I agree that the ones from a certain company that have similar names don't grow the same. The supertunia bubblegum pink grows better for me than a purple one I bought that was also called supertunia.

I like the idea of trimming the longest stem each week too. Seems like I wait until they are ugly looking and then they all need trimmed. Therefore the entire plant is ugly for a long time. Now that it is cooler my petunias look better, not what some of the ones I see look like but I'm OK as long as there are some blooms. Heck I'm happy they are still alive. Past years they have all been dead by this time of year. I'll get some of the of "better" plants next year, feed more and trim differently. Have to have petunias every year and some zinnias!

I finally remembered to take the pictures:
{{gwi:1118953}}
{{gwi:1118955}}

Yours are beautiful. Did you cut them back? Mine don't look that good at the moment, but mine were blooming in May. If yours reseeded they are younger plants. Plus mine were in a pot in 100 weather.

Helen,these dropped right on gravelly hard soil and they were reseeded this summer. The one in a pot doesn't look that good. I have some popping up between the pavers on the patio and a hot pink one right by the back door. I don't do pots well at all........That is what is great about them, you get new plants right when you need them....

WOW, I want some. Mother Nature works in so many ways. And they are my favorite color!

Glenda, are they those colors year after year? My wild things at my last house always came back hot pink. But they were beautiful.
Sunny

I just have a few plants but I will try to save seed for you all........if frost doesn't kill them. A light frost doesn't hurt them at all.

The one by the back door (that the blasted dog as almost destroyed) is more a hot pink. I would say the colors in the above pics are representative of them. I haven't planted a petunia in 4 years or more.

Thank you, Glenda!!!
Sunny

Lovely Glenda, I have that same old fashioned reseeding mix that someone gave me almost 20 years ago. This year though I don't seem to have as many pale ones, but more of the dark purple and pink. And they are fragrant. One year I potted a young one and kept it on the porch during the winter. It wasn't quite as fragrant as outside, but I could still smell it. I did water a few of them during the drought this year. Right now have several seedlings that came up after the Sept rains. Can't bring them all in. Hope enough wait to come up next year to have a show.

Glenda, great picture and beautiful colors, I will have to try the old fashion reseeding type. Dropping the seeds here and there is just up my ally. I use pots a lot to out smart tree roots. I also use the ornamental potatoes to spill over the pot. I am tired of the same old thing. A few weeks ago I noticed a petunia spilling down a pot of dark pink double impatiens and a mandevilla vine. It's a beautiful pink overdose. Next summer I will try dropping a few petunia seeds in pots and see what happens. I have been restricting myself to planting sun loving plants in the sun. But my favorite pots are the all mixed up ones that I get from propagation. I seem to have an on going problem of little plants in little cups that need a home.
On a wackier note, I found out that the Raspberry Blast petunia was created form a tissue culture. The man responsible holds the patents on many other plants he has developed. My husband of 24 years is using a cream to kill the sun spots on his head and he sleeps poorly, dreams a lot. So anyway he has been dreaming that I went back to my first husband, a nightmare! I have decided that the man of my husbands dreams should be Ushio Sakazaki, my third husband. I could have all the petunias I want. He looks about 20 years younger then me but I could over look that for the greenery. Maybe I will buy some petunia seeds incase that doesnâÂÂt workout.

Be nice to your husband for the metal work he does and quit teasing or you may hurt his feelings.